The fourth quarter of 2018 brought some challenges in my personal and professional life, and a soy allergy. I took the opportunity to do a hard reboot and well, I’m back and welcoming 2019 with a plan and a fresh perspective.

In preparation for the new year, I’ve invested time in de-cluttering, re-organizing, and preparing myself for a positive 2019. Personal and professional mise en place, getting rid of what doesn’t serve me, and focus on what needs to be done.

The goal- get the newsletter going. Start date, January 28, 2019. Woohoo! The next steps, reconnect with a lot of industry people for networking, information sharing, and get some of these goals working.

My background is in food service sales and marketing which is one of the main reasons I started this. There is a need for an independent Arizona food service communication hub and I have the ability and opportunity to create one so I am.

The Arizona Food Service Business Directory has the largest public food service directory in Arizona with 168 different categories and over 1,600 listings. Great tools and resources for marketers.

The Events segment is pretty awesome as well. With the events aggregator feature, we can set it up to automatically sync up with your event once posted. Such a great time saver.

RSS Feeds are such a great way to share information. RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication, which is a quick way to share news and information and it’s easy to manage too! Another great tool for marketers.

ChefStudent Connect. I look forward to getting an event going. First the newsletter and then, add an event. 🙂 Love that site, and concept.

Last but not least, the Blog! Another feature to encourage community communication. We want to hear about your new product, rebate, company, and information about our industry. The Blog is a great way to share it. Once shared here, we can share it with social media, and in the newsletter.

Always supporting culinary education and networking, trade associations like the American Culinary Federation Chef’s Association of Arizona will be a priority in the newsletter and within the site, and with ChefStudent Connection.

The year in review- grateful to be here and healthy, time to move forward. Couple keys takeaways from 2018 are Anthony Bordin’s passing, and my soy allergy. Anthony’s voice was (is) a voice in my head that encouraged me to put my thoughts into writing. Translate my thoughts into words, be more descriptive in expressing them, and take these influences with me as I develop my own style.

Of course, we know he committed suicide. My personal connection with that is, my adoptive mother committed suicide did too when I was 8 years old. My thoughts are with his daughter, Ariane, as from what I’ve learned from losing a parent to suicide at a young age is grief hits you at different stages in life like a car accident.

The most recent hit for me was last quarter when looking through photos and keepsakes I haven’t seen in over 20 years, some I’ve never seen. This mixed with my step-mother’s passing in October and the holidays, it’s been a lot to process. The new year could not have come at a better time.

The soy allergy brought a new perspective on eating, holy. I feel like I’ll be able to give a TED Talk one day on “how my soy allergy saved my life”. Soy is in so many foods, it’s been a learning curve, and at times, hard to accept. I have to read every label or ask if there’s soy in everything I eat and to be honest, it can really suck.

Now from a food service perspective, the allergy opens up new experiences operators. Learning how operators treat allergies has been an awakening, and sometimes a rude. Thankful the allergy isn’t at anaphylaxis level as the learning curve would have killed me by now.

Welcome 2019; here comes the food service sales and marketing vegetarian foodie with a soy allergy and a blog!! Game on!

C-CAP Arizona Harvest Moon

Food Stations with Sweet & Savory Small Plates . C-CAP High School Students & Teachers paired with 30 top local Chefs

Dress Attire: Casual Elegance

Harvest Moon Tickets: $125 per person

Super Harvest Tickets: $175 per person

$75 per ticket is tax-deductible

Tickets and Sponsorships range from $125 to $10,000. Please contact Jill Smith at 623.606.6213 or jsmith@ccapinc.org if you are interested in becoming a Harvest Moon Sponsor. All proceeds are used to support Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP Arizona).

PHOENIX, Sept. 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Jewish National Fund (JNF-USA) will host its annual National Conference in the Grand Canyon State October 26-28, bringing over 1,000 committed Jewish and Israeli leaders, philanthropists, and students from across the U.S. and Israel to the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, AZ to learn about the key issues of the day over a powerful and impactful weekend.

Brendan Campbell Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018 Court: Bartenders, waiters entitled to higher pay for non-tipped work WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Arizona bars and restaurants cannot pay tipped employees less than minimum wage for doing work that does not directly generate tips, a decision that one attorney called “a game changer.” The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a district court ruling and was a victory for 14 bartenders and servers who sued nine businesses that they said used the minimum wage exemption to illegally underpay them.

Corey Hawk Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018 Arizona’s first malt house saves water and supports local breweries CAMP VERDE – Zach Hauser, like many farmers in the Verde Valley, takes pride in his land and the crops he grows. Normally this time of year, rows of corn, alfalfa, carrots and watermelon would cover his acreage.

KINGMAN – Goodwill, through partnership with Arizona at Work and at select retail locations, is striving to advance Arizona’s workforce by educating and training workers, which President and CEO of Goodwill of Central Arizona Tim O’Neal says will in turn promote job growth and help the local economy to thrive.

Goodwill has resource centers at its Kingman and Lake Havasu City locations that allow the community to utilize tips on building resumes, how to interview, and other “soft skills,” said Jason Millin, one stop operator at the Goodwill Resource Center at Arizona at Work.